Sponsored by
Baldry strike seals victory for Guiseley AFC
Garforth's David Brown celebrates his hattrick.
Guiseley marked their first league fixture since January 28 with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Hinckley United, thanks to a second-half strike from Simon Baldry.
The Lions could even afford the luxury of a missed penalty with James Walshaw seeing his second-half penalty saved, but thankfully the miss didn’t prove costly.
Lions manager Steve Kittrick brought in Mark Bower to partner Danny Ellis at centre back, moving skipper Simon Ainge to right-back. The trio, with the ever-present Dave Merris, were the foundation for a win which kept the Lions’ hunt for promotion firmly on the boil.
Hinckley started the brighter however, with lively forward Andre Gray finding himself through on goal, only to blast over, while Danny Forrest and Danny Boshell both threatened for the visitors.
Shout
As the first half went on, the Lions continued to pressure with a series of corners and a refused penalty shout.
A resilient Hinckley side had frustrated Gusieley in the opening 45 minutes but a half-time discussion with Kittrick obviously did the trick with Baldry netting in the 47th minute.
Following a Guiseley attack, the ex-Huddersfield man lashed a drive past the hosts’ debutant ‘keeper Patrick Lane.
The remainder of the half would be an entertaining one with Guiseley searching to kill the game off and Hinckley looking for a leveller.
That leveller could, and should, have come for Hinckley shortly after the goal but a missed open goal from Gray put paid to that.
Guiseley spurned a great chance to add to their tally from the spot, but Walshaw saw his penalty saved by Lane after being felled in the box.
A number of spurned half chances from both sides were to follow, but the Lions held on for an important three points on a day when other promotion contenders slipped up.
A second-half strike from winger Robbie Youhill earned Harrogate Town all three points in a 1-0 success at Gainsborough Trinity.
The goal arrived early in the second half with Youhill firing home the rebound after Trinity keeper Michael Emery saved Paul Bolland’s shot following Paul Brayson’s cross.
The best chance of the first half fell to Trinity, with Shane Clarke blasting over after Mark Cook had parried Paul Connor’s close-range effort.
Trinity’s Leon Mettam had the host’s best chance to equalise, but he wastefully headed over following a cross from Ryan Kendall.
Craig Radcliffe hit a long-range effort just wide for Town late on.
Boss Simon Weaver said: “It was a game for Robbie Youhill. The pitch was a bit rutted up because of weather conditions and it was blowing a gale. It wasn’t really a winger’s paradise out there and things weren’t quite working out for him.
“But the chance just fell his way. And it was a very good finish indeed.
“We’ve had a good record at Gainsborough in the last three years. We knew it was going to be difficult, but I thought when I saw the teams that there was no reason to play with fear.
“Gainsborough are flying. They’ve turned it around and the manager’s got to take a lot of credit for injecting that bit of something different. He’s got the results and they have got a lot more results than us.
“But we were really positive from the start, We can defend as a unit now and I’m delighted to win for a few reasons.”
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Leeds
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: East
Your view
Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.